Feds grant temporary reprieve in deportation case

Michele Torre is seen at his home on September 8, 2016, in Laval, Quebec. The federal government is temporarily not proceeding with the deportation of a longtime Quebec resident who was ordered back to his native Italy based on a 20-year-old criminal conviction. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz, File

MONTREAL — The family of a longtime Quebec resident facing deportation is expressing relief the federal government has decided to temporarily not proceed with his expulsion.

Michele Torre was awaiting a flight out of Montreal yesterday when word of a ministerial reprieve came.

Torre is facing deportation back to his native Italy based on a 20-year-old criminal conviction.

His daughter, Nellie Torre, says her local MP told her that her father’s case will be reviewed, and she says she’s grateful to the federal government.

Torre’s lawyer, supporters and family have argued it would be unfair to deport him so long after his conviction.

The now 64-year-old Torre was convicted in 1996 in a cocaine importation conspiracy linked to the Cotroni crime family and served part of a nearly nine-year sentence in prison.

Since 2013, the Canadian government has sought to remove Torre from Canada for “serious criminality and organized criminality.”